New Years Eve

This was the first year since we've been engaged/ married that Jakob and I were able to spend New Years Eve together. It was really nice! We both worked the annual NYE party and the Wynn. I was a clown and Jakob got to be the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland. I must admit he was the cutest bunny. Not nearly as cute as our niece Lucia on Halloween but he was a close second. We did not however get to share a New Years Kiss, it was a little bit difficult through his costume and he was a little bit sweaty once he got out! I hope everyone's NYE was wonderful! May 2012 be everything you hope and dream it to be!

32 Weeks

Yikes, I can't believe it's time for our monthly update already!! Time needs to slow down!! 2012 is RIGHT around the corner... how did that happen??

How far along? 32 weeks
Total weight loss/ gained? +23 lbs (143 lbs)
Name? Ethnie Lauren Tobler
Maternity clothes? I got a few treasures for Christmas which was wonderful. My regular t-shirts no longer cover the bottom of my belly. It's so nice to have something long!!
Stretch marks? I'm super surprised and very relieved to still say... not yet. Only 8 weeks to go... I wonder if I can hold out!
Sleep? All I can say is "I love my bed." While in Canada my appreciation grew a little deeper for my bed. With all of this extra weight tossing and turning is now a full blown challenge!
Best moment this week? Flying! Our little girl loves to fly, the entire 3 hour flight she was just a wiggling away. She also loves to rock in the rocking chair.
Missing anything? Being thin. I'm still super tiny for 32 weeks but shopping for clothes is not nearly as fun when you can't fit into anything. No fear, I'll hopefully be back to my thin self within 12-20 weeks.
Movement? She is super stubborn. I felt really bad that she wouldn't move for any of my family members. Any time someone would stick their hand on my tummy she would freeze. Perhaps she's just a Mommy's girl and that's alright with me :)
Food cravings? Oranges?? I guess my body needs more vitamin C because I can't get enough!!
Anything making you queasy/ sick? No sir!
Labor signs? Contractions!!! I get quite a few throughout the day. I'm glad I can at least feel them now.
Belly button in or out? Out.
Wedding rings on or off? On baby!
Mood? Super happy to be home and getting back into my routine!
Any fun symptoms? Slow movement. I still think I'm thin... I was trying to squeeze in between two people yesterday at the grocery store and I totally plowed into someone with my belly! It was embarrassing. Oh yes... and Super Sleeeepy!
Looking forward too? Finishing Ethnie's room, and getting ready for her grand arrival!

Tigger Dog

This is my dog Tigger. Over the past 3 years I can honestly say that I can tell how old he's gotten. He used to jump and play but he's old now and even eating has become difficult for him. It's so sad to see! He has been such a good dog for our family. I'm not sure I'll get to see him again making this goodbye was a lot harder than any other. I love you Stinky McGee.

Wonderful Visits

Some of our favorite moments from Canada this year were visiting with friends. We got to see so many people that we love. It was the perfect way to make this Christmas season that much brighter! We don't have pictures with everyone we saw which I'm disappointed about. I don't know what came over me... I'll be sure to take some more pictures come July!

This is the Hall/ Mooy family. Jakob baptized Richard Mooy (not pictured) while he was serving his mission. It was wonderful catching up with them. We missed seeing Richard as he was at work!

We got to visit with my adopted Oma and Opa Zapf. I've considered them to be my Oma and Opa since I was a little girl! It is always a pleasure visiting with them! They are quite little so they stood on the fireplace. They are so cute to watch together. It's so precious to see how much they love each other!

I just loved their tree! Oma put some fake candles on it and it looked wonderful!! They have 2 real candles on their tree which they light on Christmas eve, wish each other a Merry Christmas and blow them out. Candles are such a fire hazard :).

Momma, Daddy and G-ma joined us for the visit to Oma and Opa's It was lovely!

These guys must have called each other before church to coordinate their outfits! On the Left is Adam and the right is Al Lubbers. Jakob and I got to spend a wonderful evening with the Lubbers! Bro. Lubbers was the ward mission leader in Mission Hill when Jakob was a missionary. Let's just say they bonded. Jakob adores Al.

Thank you to all those who welcomed us into your homes and came to see us! We had such a wonderful time with you all and look forward to seeing you again in the summer!!

Smile

Trying to get everyone together for family photos was difficult. Chris just started a new job and his schedule was very demanding hence no family Santa photo this year. I figured I have a fancy camera and these would do... plus we've never done it before! It was a lot of fun taking pictures. Here are some of our favorites.

Momma & Daddy

So cute :)

The Kiddos

The Ladies

The Gentlemen

This is hands down my favorite photo!! Gosh darn it I love it!

Jared is a lot like Jakob, he gets distracted pretty easily!

Once again, our signature photo. I can't wait until our little girl is here so we can stop clutching onto my belly.

Our attempt of outshining Jared and Katlynn, we lost. :) It was a fun afternoon!!

Boxing Day

Momma and I braved West Edmonton Mall on Boxing Day (Canada's Black Friday). It was CRAZY!!!!! The only thing we purchased that day was a pair of Lululemon pants. The sales were pretty impressive in Old Navy but that line was outrageous! We had fun none the less!! Thanks for braving the mall with me Momma.

A Holly Jolly Christmas

I should give you fair warning, there are a lot of pictures in this post. Proceed with caution. Christmas day was filled with Church (Jakob and I went to two wards so we could visit people), presents, food, lots of sweets and family.

Here's Mom wrestling with the turkey the night before. Apparently one turkey just wouldn't cut it (Heyden's tend to overestimate food) so we had over 23 pounds of turkey for 13 people (Katlynn is a vegetarian.) It was a battle to get these birds clean.

Look at that war stance!! Go get 'em Momma!

Bright and early Sunday morning, the bird was too heavy for G-ma to put into the oven so we had Jakob do it! Oh how I love turkey!!

Looks like Santa came!! Ho Ho Ho :)

I love the Santa letter. Every year we get a letter from Santa, next year I will have to write one for little Ethnie. It just doesn't seem right not coming from Momma, I suppose next Christmas I'll be Momma, mind boggling!

Presents all around! I love this picture of Momma!

Daddy wanted the Beatles discography, it was a little bit difficult to track down but gosh he was excited!

Jared got an X-box for Christmas so naturally he needed some games to go along with it.

Some treasures for Katlynn, I think this was Lululemon. Let's just say it's a good thing I'm expecting, I would have spent a LOT of money in there on boxing day!! It's a little difficult to try things on for post preggo size when you're 32 weeks.

This was a very hoodie themed Christmas, I'm pretty sure I'm the only kid who did not receive a hoodie this year.

Treasures for G-pa :)

A family tree frame for G-ma, once Ethnie arrives we'll replace the ultrasound photo. I absolutely adore this frame!

Jakob was a little bit of a present hoarder. He was seriously spoiled this year (we both were). Jakob liked to just hang onto his presents and that didn't sit well with G-ma. She was threatening to open them if he wouldn't. It was rather humorous!

I just love Jakob's facial expression in the back! Fabulous!!

I am still working on controlling my facial expressions, it's difficult. The wonderful thing about being in control of the blog is a get absolute control of the pictures that get posted of me!

Okay, I realize that isn't entirely fair, here is one of the MANY silly faces I made Christmas day. Out of all of the presents under the tree little Ethnie received the most HANDS DOWN! This little girl is super spoiled!! I loved this toy manger set, you push the angel and it played "Away in a Manger." Adorable!

The Fam Jam with G-ma and G-pa.

Fitting 14 people around the dinner table has become quite the challenge but we did it!! I'm sure by next Heyden Christmas we'll have another few family members and will have to set up a second table.

Uncle Calvin carving the Turkey. We had sooooo much food left over!!

Family cuddle/ digest time. It was a nice Christmas!! Until next year Ho Ho Ho!!

T'was the Night Before Christmas

This year I was put in charge of Christmas Eve. I decided to bring a little Tobler (since I am one) back home to Canada. Jakob's family always makes graham cracker houses around the holidays. It is one of our favorite traditions, only most of the time Jakob doesn't even make a house; last year he made a boat.

It was funny to see how competitive people got right out of the gate. Katlynn called Jared out for copying her. She told him to get his own idea :).

Chris went for the intricate approach. That boy even made notches in his pretzels for windows!

This is Daddy's unimpressed face, he was attempting a silo and his poor roof kept caving in. I think he tried 5 different times. He is one persistent man, he eventually got it!

Our finished products. Jakob made a temple and I made a manger. The candy selection in Canada is a lot better HOWEVER it all comes with a fairly steep price tag! Jakob and I had to call it quits so we didn't cross over the $70 mark. :)

A close up of Jakob's temple. Did you notice the green gummie bear getting sacrificed at the top? Or the gummie bear riding a dinosour? Jakob is so creativity :)

Joseph, Mary and Baby Jesus. Jakob didn't like that Jesus looked like a boogie board. I quite loved my dinosours (sour dinosaurs) as animals. Jakob said they looked like rodents instead of barn animals. Pffft, I like my set up :) I am waiting for an image of Mom Toblers so we can compare, we had the same idea this year.

Jared and Katlynn were done within a matter of 15 minutes. They were speedy!! Katlynn called hers a shack and Jared had a decapitated gummie bear because he fell off the roof?? I don't know how exactly a fall would cause you to loose your gummie head but it happened. :)

Daddy with his windmill/ silo. It stayed together!!!! We had to tell Chris to wrap it up after 2 hours. They have a serious lack of color.... it's okay, they're rookies.

It's not very colorful but dang look at that thing! Windows, reindeer in the yard, graham cracker trees and log doors.

Daddy's windmill up close and personal! Look at all of that Icing!! We had a a lot of fun making houses! I think the van den Berge's may have just adopted a tradition.

It's a van den Berge tradition to get new P.J's on Christmas eve. I must admit... I seriously look forward to my new P.J's every year and these ones were no exception! So stinking cute! It was so nice having a sister to parade around with in P.J's every though she looked adorable and I looked huge!

Getting all 5 of us to look at the camera at the same time is a little bit of a challenge. Chris was our lone wolf, but that's okay because he's planning on serving a mission pretty soon. It was a fun filled Christmas eve!